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Apollo and Daphne is a life-sized Baroque marble sculpture by Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini, executed between 1622 and 1625. Housed in the Galleria Borghese in Rome, the work depicts the climax of the story of Apollo and Daphne (Phoebus and Daphne) in Ovid's Metamorphoses.

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Apollo and Daphne
Artist	Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Year	1622–1625 (1622–1625)
Catalogue	18
Type	Sculpture
Medium	Marble
Dimensions	243 cm (96 in)
Location	Galleria Borghese, Rome
Preceded by	David (Bernini)
Followed by	Bust of Antonio Cepparelli

History

The sculpture was the last of a number of artworks commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, early in Bernini's career. Apollo and Daphne was commissioned after Borghese had given an earlier work of his patronage, Bernini's The Rape of Proserpina, to Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi.[1]

Much of the early work was done in 1622–23, but a pause, possibly to work on Bernini's sculpture of David, interrupted its completion, and Bernini did not finish the work until 1625.[2] The sculpture itself was not moved to the Cardinal's Villa Borghese until September 1625.[3] Bernini did not execute the sculpture by himself; he had help from a member of his workshop, Giuliano Finelli, who undertook the sculpture of the details that show Daphne's conversion from human to tree, such as the bark and branches, as well as her windswept hair.[4] Some historians, however, discount the importance of Finelli's contribution.[5] Apollo and Daphne was finally completed in the fall of 1625, sparking an immediate enthusiastic reception of the work.[2]

Description

While the sculpture may be appreciated from multiple angles, Bernini planned for it to be viewed slightly from the right because the work would have been visible from the doorway where it was located.[6] Viewing the sculpture from this angle allowed the observer to see the reactions of Apollo and Daphne simultaneously, thus understanding the narrative of the story in a single instant, without the need to move position.[7] However, the sculpture was later moved to the middle of the room.[8]

Like Bernini's 1622 sculpture The Rape of Proserpina, Apollo and Daphne has a cartouche with a moral aphorism by Pope Urban VIII. Attributing Christian moral value to a pagan subject was a way of justifying the statue's presence in the Borghese villa.

Iconography

When Phoebus (Apollo), fated by Cupid's love-exciting arrow, sees Daphne, the maiden daughter of Peneus, a river god, he is filled with wonder at her beauty and consumed by desire. But Daphne has been fated by Cupid's love-repelling arrow and denies the love of men. As the Nymph flees he relentlessly chases her—boasting, pleading, and promising everything. When her strength is finally spent she prays to her father Peneus:

"Destroy the beauty that has injured me, or change the body that destroys my life." Before her prayer was ended, torpor seized on all her body, and a thin bark closed around her gentle bosom, and her hair became as moving leaves; her arms were changed to waving branches, and her active feet as clinging roots were fastened to the ground—her face was hidden with encircling leaves.[9]

Yet Phoebus lost none of his passion for Daphne:

Even like this Phoebus loved her and, placing his hand against the trunk, he felt her heart still quivering under the new bark. He clasped the branches as if they were parts of human arms, and kissed the wood. But even the wood shrank from his kisses, and the god said:

"Since you cannot be my bride, you must be my tree! Laurel, with you my hair will be wreathed, with you my lyre, with you my quiver. You will go with the Roman generals when joyful voices acclaim their triumph, and the Capitol witnesses their long processions. You will stand outside Augustus's doorposts, a faithful guardian, and keep watch over the crown of oak between them. And just as my head with its uncropped hair is always young, so you also will wear the beauty of undying leaves."

Paean had done: the laurel bowed her newly made branches, and seemed to shake her leafy crown, like a head giving consent.[10]

Critical reception

The praise for Apollo and Daphne continued despite the decline of Bernini's reputation after his death. A French traveler in 1839 commented that the group is "astonishing both for mechanism of art and elaborateness, is full of charm in the ensemble and the details."[11] One 19th-century literary journal considered it the only Bernini work worthy of lasting praise.[12] Others were less positive. An English travel writer in 1829 noted Bernini's technical skill but added that the sculpture "bears all the want of judgment, taste, and knowledge of that age", going on to criticize the appearance of Apollo for being too like a shepherd and not enough like a god.[13]

More recent historians have been much more positive. Robert Torsten Petersson calls it "an extraordinary masterpiece ... suffused with an energy that works out of the tips of the laurel leaves and Apollo's hand and drapery."[14]

See also

• List of works by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

References

Notes

Bibliography

Further reading

External video
Smarthistory - Bernini's Apollo and Daphne

External links

• 3D Model of Apollo and Daphne
• Image of Sculpture on Web Gallery of Art
• Media related to Apollo and Daphne (Bernini) at Wikimedia Commons

На других языках

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[de] Apollo und Daphne

Apollo und Daphne ist eine lebensgroße barocke Marmor-Skulptur, die der italienische Künstler Gian Lorenzo Bernini in Zusammenarbeit mit Giuliano Finelli[1] zwischen 1622 und 1625 schuf.

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- [en] Apollo and Daphne (Bernini)

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[es] Apolo y Dafne (Bernini)

Apolo y Dafne es una escultura realizada por el italiano Gian Lorenzo Bernini entre los años 1622 y 1625.[1][2] Pertenece al estilo barroco. Se trata de un grupo escultórico de mármol y de tamaño natural expuesto en la Galería Borghese (Roma).

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[it] Apollo e Dafne (Bernini)

L'Apollo e Dafne è un gruppo scultoreo realizzato dal famoso artista Gian Lorenzo Bernini tra il 1622 e il 1625 ed esposto nella Galleria Borghese di Roma.

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[ru] Аполлон и Дафна

«Аполлон и Дафна» (итал. L'Apollo e Dafne) — мраморная скульптурная группа, созданная художником итальянского барокко Джованни Лоренцо Бернини по заказу кардинала Шипионе Боргезе в 1622—1625 годах. Находится в «Комнате Аполлона и Дафны» (Зал III) на Вилле в садах Боргезе (Галерея Боргезе) в Риме[1]. Кардинал Боргезе, меценат и коллекционер произведений античного искусства, покровительствовал Бернини. «Аполлон и Дафна» — одна из четырёх скульптурных групп, которые кардинал заказал молодому, но уже признанному скульптору. Остальные: «Эней, Анхиз и Асканий» (1618—1619), «Давид» (1623—1624), «Похищение Прозерпины» (1621—1622). Высота скульптуры 243 см.

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